Happenings

Adoption

Training

The Bible calls us to care for the fatherless, yet knowing where to start can be challenging. We know you may have lots of questions and concerns when caring for vulnerable populations, both in your community and around the world, and we want to help. We have speakers who can teach your congregation solid biblical truth or those who can help you gain the knowledge and skills necessary to understand and care for these populations. We have created several educational presentations to help others as they walk alongside birth parents, children in foster care or whom have been adopted, adoptive families, etc. These presentations are ideal for parents and families, church staff, teachers, social workers, counselors, pregnancy center staff and others and can be provided during conferences, speaking events, support groups, as continuing education, church services and more. Please see offered topics below:

Presenting Adoption without Fear
This presentation equips participants with the knowledge and confidence they need to present the option of adoption to women and men facing unplanned pregnancies. Oftentimes, our fear of saying the wrong thing or giving misinformation can prevent us from sharing information about adoption.

Adoption and the Abortion-Minded Client
For those working on the front-lines with women and men considering abortion, it is sometimes difficult to understand the rationale behind aborting a child versus choosing life for a child. This presentation addresses some of the most frequent reasons given by clients for why they choose abortion and ways to counter them with the life-giving alternative of adoption.

Honoring Your Child’s Adoption Story and Birth Family
Many parents through adoption feel uncertain about navigating the details of their children’s stories, but discovering the normalcy of children’s questions and concerns related to adoption at different stages in their development can ease parents’ anxiety. This presentation seeks to help parents celebrate their children’s God-given stories and become comfortable with talking in an open and honest way about adoption.

Infertility and Adoption
Infertility is a loss experienced by many couples seeking to adopt, and its impact on marriage and self-image can leave many men and women feeling heartbroken and disillusioned. This workshop will help husbands and wives address unresolved issues related to infertility and encourage honest conversations that promote healing before bringing a child home through adoption.

Entering Into Suffering: A look at suffering with and on behalf of children and families
Entering into suffering alongside children and families who have experienced tremendous amounts of pain is an incredible God glorifying act of obedience. God uses our temporary suffering for the sake of someone else to bring about healing and transformation in the lives of His people and children. Parents, caregivers, or professionals can receive a fresh perspective that will help equip and empower them to “enter in” with confidence that the Lord will work in and through them.

Biblical Foundations for Trauma Sensitive Parenting
God cares for us holistically and desires change that begins on the inside. He looks at everything that is in us and by means of sanctification, He cultivates what is pleasing to Him. By following HIS example and living life in the shadow of His strength, you are capable of becoming the parent that He desires for you to be.

Caring for Older Children with Excellence
This presentation will explore the difficulties that come along with parenting pre-adolescent and adolescent children who enter families with many wounds, a hard protective shell, and various challenging behaviors. Parenting a child who has endured severe hardships requires extreme patience, profound empathy, and the proper management of one’s own expectations. By living out the practical suggestions provided, parents can help their children experience genuine healing and enter adulthood as cycle-breakers.

Caring Well for Adoptive and Foster Families in your Community
We desire to help individuals learn how to understand the practical and emotional needs of adoptive and foster families. We will address what you need to know or think through when desiring to support families in your communities as well as provide practical information about what you can do to help.

Attachment and Trauma in the School (Trainings for both teachers and school counselors)
Children who have experienced attachment and trauma issues often have a difficult time functioning in a classroom setting. Discipline strategies and activities that typically work may not with these children. In many cases, traditional strategies may actually make certain behaviors worse. This talk helps teachers and school professionals to understand why these children are different and how to set children and classrooms up for success. Strategies for school counselors can also be discussed.

Post Adoption Depression
Post Adoption Depression (PAD) is often a topic that few want to discuss, yet many experience. Parents ahead of time don’t think it will happen to them, and parents who do end up experiencing this often feel shame and embarrassment, further isolating them from the resources that can help. This sensitive topic is normalized. Common signs and symptoms are highlighted, as well as how to find help for those who are walking this difficult road.

Preparing Siblings for Adoption
One of the biggest concerns that parents have when entering into adoption or foster care is how this journey will impact the children already in their home. This can actually make or break a placement. This talk discusses common reactions from children, as well as strategies for how to include them appropriately in the journey, and gives specific ways to aid all children through this adjustment.

Special Needs Adoption
Taking on a special needs adoption is a calling. There are many things to consider prior to embarking on this journey. This talk dives into important considerations to think through when one is contemplating adopting a child with special needs.

Trauma Sensitive Parenting
Attachment and trauma are often intertwined and cause a number of difficult circumstances for parents. Children who have experienced these issues present unique challenges for parenting, and the ways that most of us were parented often do not work. What can parents do? This talk dives into the changes in the brain, helping parents to understand their child’s beginnings, as well as how to parent differently in such a way that will help children to heal.

Where Your Child Began: An ideal world compared to a world of trauma
A comparative look at child development and attachment between the healthy, ideal world and that of compromised beginnings that many children in adoption and foster care have experienced. This presentation will help parents and professionals understand the consequences of trauma and prepare for healing.

A Sensory World
An exploration of the sensory world in which we live, how we process sensory input, and how inadequate care early in life can affect our ability to process senses appropriately. In addition, this presentation provides practical tips to help a child develop a sensory appetite and cope with sensory processing issues/disorder.

What About You: A look at Self-Care, Adult Attachment Styles, & Personal Growth
A look at the role we play as parents and how our own emotional and relational health greatly influences our families. Discussed topics include the often overlooked and underestimated self-care, adult attachment styles, and tips for becoming a healthy, therapeutic parent.

Healing Environment
A discussion on how parents can create and maintain the physical, emotional, social, educational, and moral climate in their homes and families to help children with difficult histories learn and heal.

Healing Connections
A focus on building relationship and attachment through communication, playfulness, eye contact, physical touch, and an awareness of needs.

Responding to Behaviors
There are a wide array of parenting tactics that seem to work for a child with typical, healthy beginnings but for an at-risk child who has experienced compromised beginnings the bar is raised for parents. This presentation includes practical ideas for disciplining children while still maintaining feelings of safety and security and focusing on attachment.